Tough conditions ahead for Sydney-Hobart fleet

SYDNEY — Australia’s grueling Sydney to Hobart race faces choppy seas and high winds that “pack a punch” after it gets underway Saturday with a record 27 international entries among those vying for honors. The fleet for the 71st edition of the often brutal 628 nautical mile (1,163 kilometer) bluewater classic stands at 109 and includes the 100-foot supermaxi Wild Oats XI which won line honors for an eighth time last year. It will once again be going head-to-head with American super-yacht Comanche, owned by Netscape founder Jim Clark and wife Kristy Hinze, which was runner-up in 2014. In a weather update Thursday, meteorologists forecast choppy seas outside Sydney Heads at the start with a southerly blowing up to 35 knots and rough conditions as the fleet spends its first night at sea. “It’s not a really strong one, but it does pack a fair bit of punch with it,” New South Wales Bureau of Meteorology’s Michael Loganhe said. “It does fringe into the lower end of the gale warning category. It will make for rough conditions, it’s setting up for quite an eventful first night.” Storms are part and parcel of the race with six men dying, five boats sinking and 55 sailors rescued on a fatal night in 1998 when a deep depression exploded over the fleet in the treacherous Bass Strait. Comanche’s navigator Stan Honey said he preferred wild weather to no wind, believing it will be one of the only ways to beat Wild Oats XI, which has undergone a radical transformation, including adding a new bow section. Despite the race featuring a handful of 100-footers, Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards knows Comanche, which set a new 24-hour monohull record of 618.01 nautical miles in July, is his main threat. “No question Comanche’s going to be the one to beat,” he said. Wild Oats holds the race record of one day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds set in 2012. Among the entries, 27 are from overseas, including 16 from Britain, and others from the United States, Japan, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and, for the first time, mainland China. Ark323 joins Shuguang Haiyang as the first ever mainland Chinese entries, with ocean sailing a sport on the rise in China.